100% Free Education By Government Cannot Work - Prof. Antiabong Ekong
In the spirit of 2019 Teachers Day celebration, Prof. Antiabong Ekong, the current Dean of Faculty of Education in the University of Uyo, who is also a former Commissioner for Education in Akwa Ibom State, bares his mind on the state of education in the Akwa Ibom State. In this interview with UBONGABASI ISE, the seasoned educationist speaks on wrongful conception of free education programme. He condemns the proliferation of illegal private schools and lauded the state government for clamping down on unapproved private schools in the state, while calling on the total review of the state's educational policy and the need to expose Akwa Ibom children to vocationally-oriented school curriculum in order to solve unemployment question, Excerpt:
Nigerian teachers are celebrating Teachers' Day, what do you they really have to celebrate, sir?When you talk about celebration, they have something to celebrate. If nothing, they celebrate the profession; you tell people that you are still in existence, and that you are not dead. The essence of celebration is to reinforce the awareness that education is a key factor in any development process. So the teachers have something to celebrate. I know the World's Teachers Day is an issue of the whole world to really show that the teachers are in existence. Where government understands the role and the importance of the teachers in any sector, it shows that teachers should not be toyed with, because they are the machineries that produce the manpower in every sector of an economy. You know teachers are of different levels: right from the nursery school up to the university they are all teachers. Incidentally, I am a teacher; it is our profession. So we have something to celebrate if nothing, our existence. The impression is that you are happy that you are performing your functions to develop a human being.
In recent times, how would you assess the state of public education in Akwa Ibom State?
There is improvement in the state of public education at the moment. I know that the governor is well-educated. He has passion for education, and he is doing a lot to support education if you are talking about free education or talking about training facilities. I know that there are some scholarships that are on. I know that the governor is interested in the education, and I wouldn't say we are performing badly. I know that by perceptive appraisal, a lot of people may say that the educational sector is in the bad state. But that is just perception because you might not know the sectors that you are talking about. If we are looking at the infrastructures, the government has tried to provide them. So it can never be enough. And funding of education cannot be wholly and solely the responsibility of the government alone and it succeeds. When the private sector comes in, it could also assist the government in certain aspects of the financing of education. Financing doesn't means giving cash, you can provide the infrastructures; you can provide learning and instructional materials; you can organize training for the teachers; you can support anything educational. That is education, because it is a comprehensive thing. It belongs to everybody. The Constitution of the country recognizes education as the key in terms of development. That's why, even in the national policy of education, it says education is an instrument par excellence for national development. But the major thing is that, is the government considering it as an instrument par excellence and not politicizing it? Recently we finished a conference in the Faculty of Education. We talked about politicizing education, its implications for national development. A lot of brainstorming had been on. We packaged a lot of things into the communiqué and sent to various sectors.
You have just mentioned politicizing education. Let's look at our educational sector the way it is. The political officials who are controlling the system are apparently sending their wards to either private schools or abroad to obtain education while leaving public schools for ordinary Nigerians. Wouldn't you think that this kind of trend has contributed to the underperformance of the public education system?Well, it is rather unfortunate that our political leaders are not looking at the interest of the masses; they are not looking at Nigeria holistically. If they were looking at Nigeria holistically, we wouldn't have this kind of segregated kind of treatment. The public school served everybody. Where the public school is well-funded, well taken care of, and teachers well considered, then your children can go in there. But when a parent sends his or her child to a private school, not minding the cost, it is the quality in that private school that is being paid for. That same quality could be provided in the public schools if the parents are asked to pay for it. But when they are not asked to pay for it, that's why they are not sending their children there. So my own take is that, it is government that even issue licenses to all the private institutions’ owners. And the owners are politicians, one way or the other, generating funds from the government source and establish schools. They become more of commercial institutions than providing the services of developing the child. Private universities are owned by politicians: check around, you will see everywhere. Between Lagos and Ibadan you would see over a thousand universities along the road owned by politicians, and the parents pay fees to train their children. So when you have this dichotomy in terms of private and public, it becomes a problem in Nigeria. There is need for synergy between the public and private schools. And the government should consider education as the key factor, look at it properly and holistically, and look at increase in funding. United Nations recommends 26% of the budget of a country or a state or a local government provided for education. I don't think we have up to 10% since we started this country up till now. So how can education be funded? It is a sector that requires much money. You do not see the dividend immediately. The dividend would be in terms of long term products: the products that would produce into economic sector. But when you don't have enough benefits for you to share, you don't attach much importance to it. So poor funding is the problem that we have in education, including misplacement of priority, not considering education as a primary sector.
Sir, would you support any policy that prevents a public office holder from sending their wards to private institutions or foreign country for education?
No, I wouldn't subscribe to such policy preventing somebody from taking his or her personal decision. The policy I would support is that the funding of education in the country should be reinforced. We should consider the United Nations’ benchmark. Anybody is free to send their child anywhere, even myself, I send them out. It is just an experience because education is education wherever it is received. So you cannot prevent anybody from sending his or her child anywhere he or she wants, but you look at the public educational sector and see how it could be harnessed; see how it could be improved upon so that the product of this system could also measure up with any other person, whether outside or within.
Let's look at free education in Akwa Ibom State. Could you say it is a blessing or a curse?
When we talk about free education, my understanding of free education is that fees would be paid (by parents), boarding would be free, books would be provided, facilities would be provided, means of transport like school bus programme would be provided and many other things. That's when you can say it is free. And for it to be absolutely free, the government alone cannot fund it. So when you talk about free education, it is just a language. But if you are talking about subscribing maybe school fees, I have agreed to that. If we are talking about free, anything free is not qualitative. So when you look at the quality of the thing you say it is free, you can assess. The government alone cannot provide all those facilities. Doing that means you are taking the responsibilities from the parents not to sponsor the children they brought into the world. My idea, as far as Akwa Ibom is concerned, is for us to redefine that concept of free education. If we are going to be subscribing fees, make boarding compulsory and the parents pay; the parents buy their books, the parents take care of their children, simple. And then, they could be able to assess the quality because when you put in money into something you would be interested so that your money won't get lost. But when the government alone bears the responsibility, the parents would lose interest. Of course you want government to cook food and bring to your child in the house which is odd.
If this free education is undermining the performance of the public educational sector, would you still advise the state government to go on with this policy of free education?
That's why I said it should be reviewed. It should be redefined. There must be operational guidelines. It should be redefined to allow the parents bear the responsibilities. When you say it is free that is why the average parent would say after all it is free. They won't buy any book or school uniform for their children because education is free. Is that possible for you to have quality education? That's why most parents are struggling to be sending their children to private schools because they pay fees, they buy books, they pay for many other things, and they pay for lessons after school and so on. But if you introduce such elements into public schools, a lot of people would shout. I remember when I was a Commissioner for Education in Akwa Ibom State, I introduced the element of prep in the school system so that the children would stay in school till 4.00pm and 4.30pm. This is because most parents return from work from 4.00pm; most parents who sell in the market go back from 6.00pm. So if the school closes by 1.00pm, between that time to 4.00pm, that children become idle. That is why we have cultism in secondary schools because of idleness, and I know the kind of calls I received. Most schools that adopted it, the children benefitted from it because they were engaged. I encouraged all the schools to establish canteens so that the children can take snacks because excess eating could make the brain of the children dull. They took snacks so that they could become active. And where the teachers could not complete their lessons, they could use the prep period to complete their lessons. People didn't understand that: we don't look at the policies critically and objectively. Our job is to criticize while we don't look at the benefits of these policies. Talking about the free education, what I'm saying to the state government is that, for us to make it effective, it should be reviewed. There are some elements the government bears responsibility while the parents bear responsibilities of all others because they bring the child to the world and they have to take care of them.
Recently, the state Ministry of Education announced the closure of over one thousand private schools in the state. Wouldn't this decision have some sort of adverse effect on...
(Cuts in) You are looking at the effect...
We have a lot of children out of school at the moment. Let's consider the effect this kind of decision would have on the system
You are looking at the effect of this decision, but you are not looking at the effect on the future of the child. The government is not mad. They are closing the schools that are not properly regulated; closing the schools that are not properly registered; closing the schools that were not approved. I know that before you establish a school, government must give you what is called Authority To Operate, ATO, and before it is issued, there must be some inspections. There must be certain criteria that you must meet. But anybody would have his flat, use one room and establish a school, and you call that a school. Because of the desperation of the parents, maybe for proximity, they send their children to such school. Look at the quality of teachers those people recruit, when the foundation is faulty, the children would not do well in school. If you have low quality teachers; those who could not even pass Elementary Six, and then you get them as teachers, what kind of foundation do you think they would lay for those children? I subscribe to government closing them properly, except when they go back and regularize, and then the government does the appropriate inspection: they give them the criteria and they meet up with the criteria, fine! You start from one step to another. If it is the nursery, you are approved to start from the nursery, not starting from nursery to the secondary immediately and say it is the private school. The government is not mad. So it has no effect adversely for now. The effect would be adverse when wrong foundations are being laid on the children, which would have the chain effect on the society.
But sir, don't you think this government's decision would cause pressure on the approved schools in the state?
It won't. To anybody that has money from any source, his business investment should not be to establish a school because it is dangerous to establish a school that is not properly regulated, and not properly funded. If you don't provide the necessary facilities to build up a child, to build up a child that is a human being, you can do any other business, and not a school. And before you establish a school you should be ready, knowing full well that the first five years you are not looking at the profit but you are establishing it for profit purposes. They don't even pay the teachers that they recruit. And if they are not paid, they are not motivated. So they cannot put in their best to groom the children - so it becomes very dangerous. The pressure is not there. The public schools that we have are enough for now. Gradually, we can expand facilities that we have in the public schools so that the quality kind of education that we expect should be provided.
Looking at realities in the country today, how does our current educational system prepare our young people for life after their graduation?
The society is dynamic. It is changing. The economy is not providing white-collar jobs anymore. That is why there is the need for holistic review of our educational curriculum, looking at all the subject areas in terms of incorporating vocational elements. Because when there are vocational elements, you would acquire skills that will enable you to be able to create jobs for yourself. That is why you are seeing the kind of introduction of GST on entrepreneurship which we are chorusing. You would find that entrepreneurially-oriented programmes are capital intensive. It takes a lot of money to provide the necessary things to be able to develop the students on the relevant skills that they want. If at this theoretical basis, funding becomes difficult, and then we go into incorporating the vocational elements, how do you think the funding would be? This is because of misplacement of priority by the government. So, the population is increasing every day, and that is why a review of curriculum is very important so that these elements could be integrated so that they would be able to acquire the relevant skills to enable them exist on their own and create jobs to survive. I am advocating that government should look at the education again with the view of reorganization of our educational system, with skill focus. Recently in one country, about a hundred universities were converted to polytechnics for skill orientation. This is because university is academic and theoretical, while the polytechnic is skill-oriented. If we could also look at that and toe the line, we could introduce those elements so that by the time you finish your study, pick a trade or go to the training again so that you can survive and be less depended on government. After all in the national policy, we talk about self-reliance: you cannot be self-reliant if you are not self-employed; you cannot do anything to survive except depending on government.
You were talking about the dynamism of the society. Today it is common to see someone who was trained in a particular career picking up a profession in another field entirely. Just like someone who studied pharmacology playing a different role in the civil service. So we now having what is called square peg in a round hole. How does this trend help our society?In what you are saying, you are making a mistake. Like pure professional courses, you cannot have a medical doctor leaving his medical practice to go and pick a civil service job. He will practice. You have pharmacists, and they establish their pharmaceutical businesses. But you look at the situation in which politics tends to be a major thing. Every young man wants to be a politician; every young man wants to be a chairman of a local government area; every young man wants to get into the House of Assembly because there is no control. There, money circulates, money flows; they don't think about the policy; they don't think about the human beings; they don't think about the constituencies that they left and the promises they made because the government's emphasis is on politics. I'm not criticizing them, but what are their roles and responsibilities? Are they really looking at the society and the masses holistically? It becomes a problem. Look at the NLC now (on minimum wage), they are still fighting over N30, 000 and N20, 000; committees upon committees are being set to be able to look at that. Even to look at the issue, it becomes a problem. People are comparing what the legislators are earning with that of the ordinary citizens. We are not envying them, we are all Nigerians. We buy from the same market; we have the same experiences; we have our children to train; we also need to build houses and so on and so forth. The gap is too wide, it should be breached. When you talk about lack of something to do, it is lack of skills that make people run, crossing from here to there. There is job mobility actually, but where some appear to be greener than others, you have people trying to divert and to go there to see if it is green. Choosing a course in the university should be based on passion and aptitude. A lot of children now, because of lack of gaining admission, they would see any one available, they enter. That might not be their calling, and they might not end well. They would start roaming, and people would think our educational system has a problem whereas it does not because the children are not well guided.
Sir if you are to sit with Governor Udom Emmanuel to advise him on how he could go about with issues of education in the state, what are those vital things you would like to tell him?
Already Udom Emmanuel is an excellent administrator in the state. Recently there was an education summit. And I know that the summit must have brought out some elements and inputs on improving the education system. I also heard him said that very soon he would convene summits concerning secondary and primary education which is good: looking at different levels because these are peculiar levels with their peculiar problems and with their peculiar responsibilities. What we should do is looking at the state in order to deviate from civil service to industrially-oriented state. He has already been establishing a lot of industries. The next thing is the training of the relevant manpower to be able to fit in, rather than importing expatriates to come and fit in these sectors. So in our education as I see, we should look at the vocational aspect mainly, that is, emphasizing vocational technical programmes so that our younger ones would have the relevant skills that can fit into the various industries. Even the national policy has now specified about 34 trade and enterprise areas for us to train our younger ones. By the time our children develop under these areas, I think the government would have less stress in terms of creation of employment. Just to provide the funding facilities, you access loans, and then you establish your own. The services would be provided, the economy would improve, and everybody would go on. So that's my own, if we review our curriculum in the state, bringing in technical and vocational elements, and more importantly, ICT, our people would go places in the next few years.
Alright sir. Do you have any more advise for us?
I just appreciate you. The media has a role to play. You have to work in synergy with the government. You have to be able to advise the government; you have to be able to give positive inputs rather than negative criticisms on the government. The government is trying. The government is being managed by ourselves, by our citizens and leaders. And when you criticize, and the criticism is not constructive, it becomes very dangerous. It doesn't allow the society to grow. The media should also be able to make sure that we try to introduce elements that unify all sections of the state so that we can move in unity so that we could succeed and don’t destroy ourselves at the national level. I know that when it comes to political factions, that's political personal interest, and we should we keep our swords down, work as a team to ensure that Akwa Ibom State remains a unified and a developed state. A lot of people have interest in coming to Akwa Ibom, to see how Akwa Ibom is, because of what they are hearing. And when they come, they should see visibly why they have to come to Akwa Ibom. God has blessed us with a lot of resources, and we have relevant manpower everywhere. Current Governor is a banker. He's from the corporate world, and he's bringing in corporate experience into running the state. All he needs is our support and backup, and then I think we can succeed.
Nigerian teachers are celebrating Teachers' Day, what do you they really have to celebrate, sir?When you talk about celebration, they have something to celebrate. If nothing, they celebrate the profession; you tell people that you are still in existence, and that you are not dead. The essence of celebration is to reinforce the awareness that education is a key factor in any development process. So the teachers have something to celebrate. I know the World's Teachers Day is an issue of the whole world to really show that the teachers are in existence. Where government understands the role and the importance of the teachers in any sector, it shows that teachers should not be toyed with, because they are the machineries that produce the manpower in every sector of an economy. You know teachers are of different levels: right from the nursery school up to the university they are all teachers. Incidentally, I am a teacher; it is our profession. So we have something to celebrate if nothing, our existence. The impression is that you are happy that you are performing your functions to develop a human being.
In recent times, how would you assess the state of public education in Akwa Ibom State?
There is improvement in the state of public education at the moment. I know that the governor is well-educated. He has passion for education, and he is doing a lot to support education if you are talking about free education or talking about training facilities. I know that there are some scholarships that are on. I know that the governor is interested in the education, and I wouldn't say we are performing badly. I know that by perceptive appraisal, a lot of people may say that the educational sector is in the bad state. But that is just perception because you might not know the sectors that you are talking about. If we are looking at the infrastructures, the government has tried to provide them. So it can never be enough. And funding of education cannot be wholly and solely the responsibility of the government alone and it succeeds. When the private sector comes in, it could also assist the government in certain aspects of the financing of education. Financing doesn't means giving cash, you can provide the infrastructures; you can provide learning and instructional materials; you can organize training for the teachers; you can support anything educational. That is education, because it is a comprehensive thing. It belongs to everybody. The Constitution of the country recognizes education as the key in terms of development. That's why, even in the national policy of education, it says education is an instrument par excellence for national development. But the major thing is that, is the government considering it as an instrument par excellence and not politicizing it? Recently we finished a conference in the Faculty of Education. We talked about politicizing education, its implications for national development. A lot of brainstorming had been on. We packaged a lot of things into the communiqué and sent to various sectors.
You have just mentioned politicizing education. Let's look at our educational sector the way it is. The political officials who are controlling the system are apparently sending their wards to either private schools or abroad to obtain education while leaving public schools for ordinary Nigerians. Wouldn't you think that this kind of trend has contributed to the underperformance of the public education system?Well, it is rather unfortunate that our political leaders are not looking at the interest of the masses; they are not looking at Nigeria holistically. If they were looking at Nigeria holistically, we wouldn't have this kind of segregated kind of treatment. The public school served everybody. Where the public school is well-funded, well taken care of, and teachers well considered, then your children can go in there. But when a parent sends his or her child to a private school, not minding the cost, it is the quality in that private school that is being paid for. That same quality could be provided in the public schools if the parents are asked to pay for it. But when they are not asked to pay for it, that's why they are not sending their children there. So my own take is that, it is government that even issue licenses to all the private institutions’ owners. And the owners are politicians, one way or the other, generating funds from the government source and establish schools. They become more of commercial institutions than providing the services of developing the child. Private universities are owned by politicians: check around, you will see everywhere. Between Lagos and Ibadan you would see over a thousand universities along the road owned by politicians, and the parents pay fees to train their children. So when you have this dichotomy in terms of private and public, it becomes a problem in Nigeria. There is need for synergy between the public and private schools. And the government should consider education as the key factor, look at it properly and holistically, and look at increase in funding. United Nations recommends 26% of the budget of a country or a state or a local government provided for education. I don't think we have up to 10% since we started this country up till now. So how can education be funded? It is a sector that requires much money. You do not see the dividend immediately. The dividend would be in terms of long term products: the products that would produce into economic sector. But when you don't have enough benefits for you to share, you don't attach much importance to it. So poor funding is the problem that we have in education, including misplacement of priority, not considering education as a primary sector.
Sir, would you support any policy that prevents a public office holder from sending their wards to private institutions or foreign country for education?
No, I wouldn't subscribe to such policy preventing somebody from taking his or her personal decision. The policy I would support is that the funding of education in the country should be reinforced. We should consider the United Nations’ benchmark. Anybody is free to send their child anywhere, even myself, I send them out. It is just an experience because education is education wherever it is received. So you cannot prevent anybody from sending his or her child anywhere he or she wants, but you look at the public educational sector and see how it could be harnessed; see how it could be improved upon so that the product of this system could also measure up with any other person, whether outside or within.
Let's look at free education in Akwa Ibom State. Could you say it is a blessing or a curse?
When we talk about free education, my understanding of free education is that fees would be paid (by parents), boarding would be free, books would be provided, facilities would be provided, means of transport like school bus programme would be provided and many other things. That's when you can say it is free. And for it to be absolutely free, the government alone cannot fund it. So when you talk about free education, it is just a language. But if you are talking about subscribing maybe school fees, I have agreed to that. If we are talking about free, anything free is not qualitative. So when you look at the quality of the thing you say it is free, you can assess. The government alone cannot provide all those facilities. Doing that means you are taking the responsibilities from the parents not to sponsor the children they brought into the world. My idea, as far as Akwa Ibom is concerned, is for us to redefine that concept of free education. If we are going to be subscribing fees, make boarding compulsory and the parents pay; the parents buy their books, the parents take care of their children, simple. And then, they could be able to assess the quality because when you put in money into something you would be interested so that your money won't get lost. But when the government alone bears the responsibility, the parents would lose interest. Of course you want government to cook food and bring to your child in the house which is odd.
If this free education is undermining the performance of the public educational sector, would you still advise the state government to go on with this policy of free education?
That's why I said it should be reviewed. It should be redefined. There must be operational guidelines. It should be redefined to allow the parents bear the responsibilities. When you say it is free that is why the average parent would say after all it is free. They won't buy any book or school uniform for their children because education is free. Is that possible for you to have quality education? That's why most parents are struggling to be sending their children to private schools because they pay fees, they buy books, they pay for many other things, and they pay for lessons after school and so on. But if you introduce such elements into public schools, a lot of people would shout. I remember when I was a Commissioner for Education in Akwa Ibom State, I introduced the element of prep in the school system so that the children would stay in school till 4.00pm and 4.30pm. This is because most parents return from work from 4.00pm; most parents who sell in the market go back from 6.00pm. So if the school closes by 1.00pm, between that time to 4.00pm, that children become idle. That is why we have cultism in secondary schools because of idleness, and I know the kind of calls I received. Most schools that adopted it, the children benefitted from it because they were engaged. I encouraged all the schools to establish canteens so that the children can take snacks because excess eating could make the brain of the children dull. They took snacks so that they could become active. And where the teachers could not complete their lessons, they could use the prep period to complete their lessons. People didn't understand that: we don't look at the policies critically and objectively. Our job is to criticize while we don't look at the benefits of these policies. Talking about the free education, what I'm saying to the state government is that, for us to make it effective, it should be reviewed. There are some elements the government bears responsibility while the parents bear responsibilities of all others because they bring the child to the world and they have to take care of them.
Recently, the state Ministry of Education announced the closure of over one thousand private schools in the state. Wouldn't this decision have some sort of adverse effect on...
(Cuts in) You are looking at the effect...
We have a lot of children out of school at the moment. Let's consider the effect this kind of decision would have on the system
You are looking at the effect of this decision, but you are not looking at the effect on the future of the child. The government is not mad. They are closing the schools that are not properly regulated; closing the schools that are not properly registered; closing the schools that were not approved. I know that before you establish a school, government must give you what is called Authority To Operate, ATO, and before it is issued, there must be some inspections. There must be certain criteria that you must meet. But anybody would have his flat, use one room and establish a school, and you call that a school. Because of the desperation of the parents, maybe for proximity, they send their children to such school. Look at the quality of teachers those people recruit, when the foundation is faulty, the children would not do well in school. If you have low quality teachers; those who could not even pass Elementary Six, and then you get them as teachers, what kind of foundation do you think they would lay for those children? I subscribe to government closing them properly, except when they go back and regularize, and then the government does the appropriate inspection: they give them the criteria and they meet up with the criteria, fine! You start from one step to another. If it is the nursery, you are approved to start from the nursery, not starting from nursery to the secondary immediately and say it is the private school. The government is not mad. So it has no effect adversely for now. The effect would be adverse when wrong foundations are being laid on the children, which would have the chain effect on the society.
But sir, don't you think this government's decision would cause pressure on the approved schools in the state?
It won't. To anybody that has money from any source, his business investment should not be to establish a school because it is dangerous to establish a school that is not properly regulated, and not properly funded. If you don't provide the necessary facilities to build up a child, to build up a child that is a human being, you can do any other business, and not a school. And before you establish a school you should be ready, knowing full well that the first five years you are not looking at the profit but you are establishing it for profit purposes. They don't even pay the teachers that they recruit. And if they are not paid, they are not motivated. So they cannot put in their best to groom the children - so it becomes very dangerous. The pressure is not there. The public schools that we have are enough for now. Gradually, we can expand facilities that we have in the public schools so that the quality kind of education that we expect should be provided.
Looking at realities in the country today, how does our current educational system prepare our young people for life after their graduation?
The society is dynamic. It is changing. The economy is not providing white-collar jobs anymore. That is why there is the need for holistic review of our educational curriculum, looking at all the subject areas in terms of incorporating vocational elements. Because when there are vocational elements, you would acquire skills that will enable you to be able to create jobs for yourself. That is why you are seeing the kind of introduction of GST on entrepreneurship which we are chorusing. You would find that entrepreneurially-oriented programmes are capital intensive. It takes a lot of money to provide the necessary things to be able to develop the students on the relevant skills that they want. If at this theoretical basis, funding becomes difficult, and then we go into incorporating the vocational elements, how do you think the funding would be? This is because of misplacement of priority by the government. So, the population is increasing every day, and that is why a review of curriculum is very important so that these elements could be integrated so that they would be able to acquire the relevant skills to enable them exist on their own and create jobs to survive. I am advocating that government should look at the education again with the view of reorganization of our educational system, with skill focus. Recently in one country, about a hundred universities were converted to polytechnics for skill orientation. This is because university is academic and theoretical, while the polytechnic is skill-oriented. If we could also look at that and toe the line, we could introduce those elements so that by the time you finish your study, pick a trade or go to the training again so that you can survive and be less depended on government. After all in the national policy, we talk about self-reliance: you cannot be self-reliant if you are not self-employed; you cannot do anything to survive except depending on government.
You were talking about the dynamism of the society. Today it is common to see someone who was trained in a particular career picking up a profession in another field entirely. Just like someone who studied pharmacology playing a different role in the civil service. So we now having what is called square peg in a round hole. How does this trend help our society?In what you are saying, you are making a mistake. Like pure professional courses, you cannot have a medical doctor leaving his medical practice to go and pick a civil service job. He will practice. You have pharmacists, and they establish their pharmaceutical businesses. But you look at the situation in which politics tends to be a major thing. Every young man wants to be a politician; every young man wants to be a chairman of a local government area; every young man wants to get into the House of Assembly because there is no control. There, money circulates, money flows; they don't think about the policy; they don't think about the human beings; they don't think about the constituencies that they left and the promises they made because the government's emphasis is on politics. I'm not criticizing them, but what are their roles and responsibilities? Are they really looking at the society and the masses holistically? It becomes a problem. Look at the NLC now (on minimum wage), they are still fighting over N30, 000 and N20, 000; committees upon committees are being set to be able to look at that. Even to look at the issue, it becomes a problem. People are comparing what the legislators are earning with that of the ordinary citizens. We are not envying them, we are all Nigerians. We buy from the same market; we have the same experiences; we have our children to train; we also need to build houses and so on and so forth. The gap is too wide, it should be breached. When you talk about lack of something to do, it is lack of skills that make people run, crossing from here to there. There is job mobility actually, but where some appear to be greener than others, you have people trying to divert and to go there to see if it is green. Choosing a course in the university should be based on passion and aptitude. A lot of children now, because of lack of gaining admission, they would see any one available, they enter. That might not be their calling, and they might not end well. They would start roaming, and people would think our educational system has a problem whereas it does not because the children are not well guided.
Sir if you are to sit with Governor Udom Emmanuel to advise him on how he could go about with issues of education in the state, what are those vital things you would like to tell him?
Already Udom Emmanuel is an excellent administrator in the state. Recently there was an education summit. And I know that the summit must have brought out some elements and inputs on improving the education system. I also heard him said that very soon he would convene summits concerning secondary and primary education which is good: looking at different levels because these are peculiar levels with their peculiar problems and with their peculiar responsibilities. What we should do is looking at the state in order to deviate from civil service to industrially-oriented state. He has already been establishing a lot of industries. The next thing is the training of the relevant manpower to be able to fit in, rather than importing expatriates to come and fit in these sectors. So in our education as I see, we should look at the vocational aspect mainly, that is, emphasizing vocational technical programmes so that our younger ones would have the relevant skills that can fit into the various industries. Even the national policy has now specified about 34 trade and enterprise areas for us to train our younger ones. By the time our children develop under these areas, I think the government would have less stress in terms of creation of employment. Just to provide the funding facilities, you access loans, and then you establish your own. The services would be provided, the economy would improve, and everybody would go on. So that's my own, if we review our curriculum in the state, bringing in technical and vocational elements, and more importantly, ICT, our people would go places in the next few years.
Alright sir. Do you have any more advise for us?
I just appreciate you. The media has a role to play. You have to work in synergy with the government. You have to be able to advise the government; you have to be able to give positive inputs rather than negative criticisms on the government. The government is trying. The government is being managed by ourselves, by our citizens and leaders. And when you criticize, and the criticism is not constructive, it becomes very dangerous. It doesn't allow the society to grow. The media should also be able to make sure that we try to introduce elements that unify all sections of the state so that we can move in unity so that we could succeed and don’t destroy ourselves at the national level. I know that when it comes to political factions, that's political personal interest, and we should we keep our swords down, work as a team to ensure that Akwa Ibom State remains a unified and a developed state. A lot of people have interest in coming to Akwa Ibom, to see how Akwa Ibom is, because of what they are hearing. And when they come, they should see visibly why they have to come to Akwa Ibom. God has blessed us with a lot of resources, and we have relevant manpower everywhere. Current Governor is a banker. He's from the corporate world, and he's bringing in corporate experience into running the state. All he needs is our support and backup, and then I think we can succeed.
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